Druce Devlin was born in Armidale, Australia and followed his father and began an apprenticeship in plumbing. He became involved with the game of golf as a teenager after an accident took his father’s arm. After successful amateur career, he turned pro in 1961 before joining the PGA Tour in 1962 after an amateur career in Australia which included a win at the Australian Amateur in 1959. During his PGA Tour career, he had eight victories all of which occurred between 1964 and 1972. In 1972, he earned $119,768 and finished eighth on the money list.
1963 New Zealand Open: Held at the Belmont Links, Wanganui was played on September 26 to 28 in fine cool weather for much of the three day period. Phillips led after the second day with 132 while Thomson, thanks to a remarkable 63, lay only one stroke behind.
This situation was not able to be maintained and in the final round with three holes to play Thomson, Nagle and Devlin were tied in the lead. Here Devlin played a dreadful shanked second to fall one stroke behind but came back with birdies on the final two holes to win by one from Thomson while Nagle bogeyed the last to fall a further stroke back.
At the 72nd hole of the 1975 Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational, Devlin shot a 10 after hitting multiple shots into the water in front of the 18th green of the Torrey Pines South Course. The pond was thereafter nicknamed “Devlin’s Billabong”.
Devlin is one of only four golfers to have scored a double eagle (three-under-par) at the Masters Tournament. He achieved this in the first round of the 1967 Masters, holing a 4-wood from 248 yards on the par-5 8th hole.
The main focus of Devlin’s career in the past 30 years has been his work as a Golf Course Architect and Designer. Devlin has designed and built more than 150 golf courses throughout the world including Australia, Japan, Scotland, the Bahamas, and the United States. About two-thirds of the golf courses he designed have been in Florida and Texas. Many of these courses have hosted all of the professional golf tours, including The Houston Open, HealthSouth LPGA Classic, Key Biscayne Golf Classic, and The Nike Cleveland Open. His golf design business is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Devlin has also worked as a television commentator. He worked for NBC from 1977 to 1982; ESPN from 1983 to 1987; and since 1999 has occasionally covered professional golf for ESPN.
